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Ballhawk would help change philosophy about takeaways

INDIANAPOLIS — The Cowboys have the 14th overall pick of the NFL draft and needs galore.

But the most pressing need is at cornerback. The Cowboys played the Giants twice last December and a victory in either game would have brought the NFC East title back home to Texas and denied New York its second Lombardi Trophy in five seasons.

But a failure in pass coverage doomed the Cowboys. Eli Manning passed for 746 yards and five touchdowns in those two games with Hakeem Nicks lighting the Cowboys up for 163 yards on eight catches in the first meeting and Victor Cruz for 178 yards on six catches in the second.

Naturally, the Cowboys will be studying the two top cornerbacks in this draft — Morris Claiborne of LSU and Dre Kirkpatrick of Alabama — with hopes one slides to 14.

Here’s a bit of draft advice for the Cowboys — dig deeper into the cornerback board. Spend as much time analyzing Casey Hayward, Trumaine Johnson, Asa Jackson and Ryan Steed as you would a Claiborne and Kirkpatrick.

And while you’re mining for gold later in the draft, take a peek at small-school prospects James Harrell and Jeremy Caldwell.

All of those cornerbacks have a trait the Cowboys need as desperately as coverage skills. All are ballhawks. They get their hands on the football, and that gets the other team’s offense off the field.

Green Bay fielded the worst pass defense in the NFL last season, allowing a staggering 300 yards per game. Only four defenses allowed more touchdown passes than the 29 by the Packers.

But Green Bay overcame that porous pass coverage to finish with an NFL-best 15-1 record. Why? Because the Packers stacked their defense with ballhawks. Green Bay intercepted a league-high 31 passes and shared the lead with 38 takeaways.

Takeaways have never been a franchise strength for the Cowboys — at least not in the Jerry Jones era. Only three times in the last 23 years have the Cowboys finished in the NFL’s top 10 in takeaways. Only six times during that same span have the Cowboys finished in the top 10 in interceptions.

The Cowboys forced only 25 turnovers last season with 15 interceptions. The Super Bowl champion Giants with their 29th-ranked pass defense had five more interceptions and five more takeaways.

In 2008, the Cowboys used a first-round draft pick on Mike Jenkins and a fifth-rounder on Orlando Scandrick. They had 10 career interceptions between them in college.

In that same draft, the Kansas City Chiefs took Brandon Carr from tiny Grand Valley State in the seventh round. He had 11 interceptions in his college career and eight more in his four NFL seasons. Now Carr stands to cash a huge paycheck in free agency this winter.

Jenkins also has eight interceptions in four NFL seasons, but he was selected six rounds higher than Carr. Scandrick has five fewer NFL interceptions than Carr. Jenkins and Scandrick were faster than Carr coming out of college and both played in a higher level of competition. But small school doesn’t always equate to small talent.

So forget the 40 times. Look at the interception count. Look for cornerbacks whose game is making plays, not winning foot races. Study the hands, not necessarily the feet.

Hayward wasn’t an All-SEC pick at Vanderbilt. LSU claimed both of those cornerback spots with Claiborne and Tyrann Mathieu. But playing against the same competition, Hayward intercepted seven passes last season and a school-record 15 in his career.

Johnson also intercepted 15 passes in his career at Montana, as did Jackson at Cal Poly. Steed intercepted 14 at Furman and took five of them back for touchdowns. Johnson started 46 career games, and Jackson was selected to the All-Great West all-decade team.

Harrell tops the cornerback draft board with 16 interceptions at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Caldwell left Eastern Kentucky with 15. Two of Caldwell’s interceptions came against Indiana of the Big Ten. He also ran one back for a TD against Louisville of the Big East.

Carr reminded the NFL not to forget the small schools. He wasn’t invited to the combine, and neither were Harrell nor Caldwell. The Cowboys would be wise to pay a visit to both campuses this draft season. You never know what you might find.

None of those cornerbacks will be first-round picks this April but all should be on the radar of the Cowboys talent evaluators. Takeaways are a defensive culture, but that culture has been dormant at Valley Ranch for better than two decade now. The Cowboys need to add some ballhawks on defense. They can be found in this and every draft if you look hard enough.

Ballhawks

The top cornerback draft prospects with the most career interceptions: